Sept. 11 Report a Hot Ticket Online, With Booksellers

NEW YORK – At least 50 million hits have been recorded on the Web site of the Sept. 11 commission (search).

Meanwhile, another 200,000 copies of the book version of the commission's report on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have been ordered, bringing the total in print to 800,000, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"Our random sampling of stores indicates that a number of them have sold out their entire stocks," Louise Brockett, a spokeswoman for publisher W.W. Norton, said.

Publication of the $10 paperback coincided with the release July 22 of a report by a bipartisan panel on the deadliest terror attack (search) in U.S. history. Citing multiple government failures, the commission called for a national counterterrorism center headed by a Cabinet-level director to centralize intelligence efforts.

An estimated 350,000 copies had been sold through Sunday, according to Brockett, and the book for days has topped the best seller lists for Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. A hardcover edition, with a suggested price of $29.95, is scheduled to come out at the end of August. Brockett said the hardcover will include an extensive index, which the paperback does not have, and will be sold primarily to libraries.

Any profits would be donated to charity, Brockett said.

The report is also available for free on the commission's Web site. Spokesman Al Felzenberg said 50 million hits were received as of Friday.

"I've gotten calls from China asking if there will be printings in other languages," said Felzenberg, who did not know how many Web visitors had downloaded the text. "It's gratifying that so many people have bought it and are engaged by it."

Translations are planned in Arabic, Mandarin, French, German and other languages.